Dynamo’s rivals in the Europa League include Roma, Lazio and Real Sociedad
President of Kyiv Dynamo Igor Surkis said that he expects a productive performance from his club’s players in the 2024 European Cup autumn, where the white-blues will play in the group stage of the updated Europa League.
“It’s very hard for the guys, they are constantly moving from one city to another. We returned to Kyiv and the victory [над ЛНЗ] was not easy for us. The opposing team is very well prepared. There is a difference: either prepare for a week, or travel and play every 2-3 days. It is very difficult.”
“But we have depth in our squad. We managed to win and get three points. Now, as the head coach said, the guys who are not going to the national teams will have three days off and continue to prepare for the matches of the season, which will be very difficult and intense.”
“I can’t assess it yet [новый формат еврокубков]. We’ll see how it goes. For our country, where there is a war, and we can’t play at home, it’s very difficult. We will have 6 away games this year, each time we need to come back, go to visit, for example, to Real Sociedad, to Hamburg, where we will play home matches. It’s very difficult for the guys, but they are professionals, they need to recover, there needs to be a rotation of the squad. The tasks facing the team have not been cancelled.”
“Let’s be honest, the Europa League today and then are different tournaments. Roma and Lazio are teams that we haven’t encountered before. We will play them. Our first opponent is Lazio – I watched their game with Milan on Saturday – they are a very strong team. But, as they say, you can play with everyone.”
“I don’t count the money, and I wasn’t worried about it that we didn’t get into the main stage of the Champions League. I understood that the guys deserved to get there with their game, mood and attitude, which I saw at the training camp. They didn’t see their children or families, because they were preparing for these two months to get into the Champions League. This time it didn’t work out, but that’s okay, we’ll play in the Europa League.”
In the new Europa League draw, the capital club will play against: Roma (away), Lazio (home), Ferencvaros (away), Real Sociedad (home), Viktoria Plzen (home), Galatasaray (away), RFS (home) and Hoffenheim (away).
The draw determined a harsh start for the Kievans: first, a nominally home match against Lazio (September 25), then two consecutive October away games – to Hoffenheim and Roma. The team of Oleksandr Shovkovskiy will finish the general stage with a match on “their” field against the Latvian RFSh at the end of January.
The points will be counted in the overall table. The top eight teams will advance to the 1/8 finals directly. The remaining eight spots will be played out in a knockout round among the teams ranked 9th to 24th. The teams ranked 25th to 36th will no longer compete in European competitions.
Source: Sportarena
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